reconciliar

Forms

reconciliar (first-person singular present reconcilio, first-person singular preterite reconcilié, past participle reconciliado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin reconcilio (“to bring back into friendship, reconcile”).^[2][1][3] Corominas lists it under concejo, with conciliar, the verb taken from Latin concilio (“to unite, associate”).^[4][3] Autoridades already analysed it as from Spanish re- + conciliar, and DICCA-XV also derives it from the Spanish verb.^[5][6]

The Latin verb is formed with the prefix re- (“back, again”).^[7][1] Medieval Latin used it for readmitting a penitent to the Church and for reconsecrating a desecrated church, the senses Old Spanish took over.^[8] The same word is Portuguese reconciliar, Catalan reconciliar, French réconcilier and Italian riconciliare.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Loores de Nuestra Señora (1236–1246) says Mary of Egypt was reconcilïada before the image of the Virgin, but the text survives in an 18th-century copy.^[10][11] The earliest record in a contemporary manuscript is the Escorial New Testament (before 1260), in Colossians: agora reconcilio uos en el cuerpo de su carne.^[10] Alfonso X's Partidas use it for the bishop who readmits penitents to the church on Maundy Thursday.^[10][12] Corominas dates it to 1449.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word belonged to church language: to readmit a sinner to the Church, and to bless a violated holy place again.^[12] Covarrubias in 1611 explained it as the Inquisition's readmission of apostates, and as going back to the confessor for a sin forgotten.^[13] Autoridades put first the general sense of restoring friendship between people or bringing divided minds into agreement, with a quotation from Cervantes's Persiles.^[5] In the Americas it is recorded from Peru in 1554, of reconciling two companions.^[14] Moliner records the reciprocal reconciliarse for people who make up after a quarrel.^[15]

Timeline

• 1236–1246 – reconcilïada in Berceo's Loores, in an 18th-century copy.^[10]
• before 1260 – reconcilio in the Escorial New Testament.^[10]
• 1256–1263 – Alfonso X's Partidas use it of penitents.^[10]
• 1449 – Corominas's date for it.^[4][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin reconcilio for reconciling an enemy.^[6]
• 1554 – the first record from the Americas, in Peru.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains its use in the Inquisition.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To reconcile: to restore friendship between people, or bring divided minds into agreement; also reflexive, to make up: Los dos hermanos se reconciliaron tras años sin hablarse.^[2][1]
2. (Catholicism) To readmit to the Church someone who had left its doctrines; also reflexive.^[2]
3. (Catholicism) To hear a short confession, of minor sins.^[2]
4. (Catholicism) To bless a holy place again after it has been desecrated.^[2][12]
5. (reflexive, Catholicism) To make a brief confession, or confess minor sins.^[2]

Word family

• reconciliación
• reconciliador
• irreconciliable

Related words

• conciliar
• concilio
• concejo
• Latin reconcilio

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. reconciliar
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. concejo
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 166
5. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 522
6. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. reconciliar
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. reconciliō
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. reconciliare
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. réconcilier
10. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. reconciliar
11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 645
12. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. reconciliar
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1250
14. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. reconciliar
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reconciliar